Andrew G. Anderson was born in Sweden in 1854. At the age of 19, he immigrated to the United States and arrived in Sioux City. He was hired to work in a government warehouse even though he could not speak English. He soon got a job working on a ferry that carried people across the Missouri River to Nebraska. During this time, it is said that he rescued several people from the waters of the Missouri.

In 1876, at the age of 22, he served on the first steamship to make the trip up the Yellowstone River in Montana. He returned to Sioux City, and three years later married Margaret DeSmet. They lived in the Prospect Hill area and had three children, two girls and one boy. Their children all died within three weeks of each other during the diphtheria epidemic.

James Booge was born in Vermont in 1833. His family lived for awhile in Canada and then moved to Indiana, where he helped on his father's farm. His education was limited.

In 1854, Booge went to California to work in the mining industry. Then, in 1858 he moved to St. Louis, where he worked for the Wabash Railroad. On October 11, 1858, Booge arrived in Sioux City, then a little town of only 500 residents. He brought with him a supply of apples, flour and whiskey, and he opened a wholesale grocery company.

Theophile Bruguier was the first white settler on land that would become Sioux City. He was born on August 31, 1813 in a small town near Montreal, Canada and was educated to become a lawyer. Soon after he had begun to practice law, Bruguier became engaged to a young French girl, Marie. Just before the marriage, she became very ill with cholera and died. A grieving Bruguier left Canada to begin a rugged life as a fur trader/interpreter with the American Fur Company in St. Louis. He was sent to Fort Pierre, Dakota Territory, arriving there January 1, 1836. Bruguier could speak English and French, and he quickly learned the Dakota language of the Sioux Indians.

One of the most respected and popular educators in Sioux City throughout the years has been M. G. Clark. Doctor Clark served as superintendent of Sioux City Schools for twenty years.

Mel Clark was born in Belleville, NY, in March of 1868. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1898. He served as superintendent of schools in several towns in Illinois before accepting the job in Sioux City. When he took over the schools, the district was in very bad shape. The buildings were old and rundown. Over the years he was able to build new schools and improve the ones the district already had.

Dr. John Cook was born in England. He went to school at Oxford University and was a graduate of the London College of Medicine and Surgery. Before moving to the United States, he served in some of London's most famous hospitals.

Cook decided to move to the United States. Many of his friends had already made the trip and wrote letters describing this new land. Arriving in Illinois, Cook decided to work as a surveyor for the government. Here he met a young woman who lived in a neighboring settlement and asked her to marry him. The woman had been married before and had a daughter named Henrietta.

Sioux City writer Margaret Crary authored nine novels for young people during her lifetime. She received many awards for her literature, and several of her books became Junior Literary Guild selections. Many of her books featured Sioux City history in their themes.

Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling was a well-known political cartoonist. His cartoons were printed in almost 150 papers across the United States. All were drawn before television and some before radio when newspapers were the most important form of communication. Darling drew through two World Wars and the terms of seven presidents. He drew during many important events in the 20th century, including the Great Depression, prohibition and the labor movement. Throughout his life, Darling was also a huge supporter of natural conservation.

Darling was born in Michigan in 1876 at the same time as the United States’ centennial. His family moved to Sioux City in 1885 when his father, Marcellus Darling, accepted a position as a minister at First Congregational Church. Some of Darling’s best memories came from his childhood in Sioux City. He loved the tall grass fields in South Dakota where he and his brother played. Darling sat on the banks of the Missouri and Big Sioux Rivers listening to the sounds of nature on summer nights. It was in the prairies around Sioux City that Darling discovered his love of nature.

Ben Davidson was the first of three brothers to come to Sioux City. Born in Slusk, Russia in 1858, he set off for America in 1880. He landed in New York with no money, no friends and no job. Within three days, however, he had a job with the India rubber comb factory on Long Island, earning just sixty to seventy-five cents a day. He set about learning the language and ways of his new country.

Ben heard about the many opportunities in the west, and made plans to improve his situation. He bought some tin goods and peddled his wares from town to town. He worked his way west until he arrived in Omaha, Nebraska. There, he became ill and had to stop for three months. When he recovered, he set out for Sioux City, arriving on July 10, 1881. When Mayor Swartz kindly allowed to him peddle his goods without a license, Ben decided to make Sioux City his home.

The Floyd River Flood of 1892 and the Financial Panic of 1893 left Sioux City a ravaged community. Many of Sioux City’s largest businesses collapsed and the town’s great promoters were left bankrupt. Eastern investors, who had invested heavily in Sioux City businesses, were left trying to salvage what they could from the shambles. Creditors of some of Sioux City’s failed companies organized the Credits Commutation Company to try and recover some of their losses. They hired Fred L. Eaton, a banker from Vermont, to come to Sioux City and supervise that recovery.

When Fred Eaton arrived in Sioux City, the boom days were over and many businesses were in ruins. The stockyards, elevated railway, Combination Bridge and many other businesses were bankrupt. Eaton convinced a majority of the eastern investors that restoring economic health to Sioux City would be of financial benefit to them. Under his direction, the Credits Commutation Company voted to support the completion of the Combination Bridge and Eaton became the secretary/treasurer of the new combination bridge company.